


Twice Upon a Time

by Mireille



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: joss_las, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-13
Updated: 2008-04-13
Packaged: 2019-03-21 08:32:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13737090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: She fell in love with him, once.





	Twice Upon a Time

They're no different from their neighbors. She's an adjunct at the local community college while she works on  _Pre-Columbian Demonology and Its Echoes in Modern Central American Culture_ , also known as "the never-ending dissertation"; he works at the antique bookshop near the university, and if he occasionally looks a bit blank and unfocused, well, the neighbors all suspect he's done a few too many drugs, somewhere along the line. "Bright young anthropologist and her older burnout boyfriend" are roles they play well.   
  
Once upon a time, she felt her blood splashing onto her feet and the thrum of ancient power deep in her veins; it was terrifying and terrible and the stuff of her nightmares for years to come, and part of the nightmare is that there was a small part of her that  _wanted_  that power to be set free. Once, he was a monster, ripping out children's throats and devouring them.   
  
Once, she was a broken little girl whose mother and sister had died and whose father had abandoned her. Once, he'd made a promise, and he'd looked after her as best he could. She'd idolized him, then, even if she'd known she shouldn't.   
  
Once she'd grown up, and gone to college, and got a job. She'd made a life for herself, and even if she couldn't quite pretend to be normal, she'd decided to establish a reputation as "brilliant, but eccentric." Once, or twice, or three times, he'd died. Once, he'd been a vampire. Once, he'd been a ghost. And once, she'd volunteered to look after him, blank-eyed and warm-blooded, because someone had to.   
  
He remembers some things he'd never learned as a human: how to drive a car, how to use a phone, how to make microwave popcorn. But he doesn't remember who he was, then, and maybe that's merciful--for him, anyway.   
  
His name is Will, and they're just like everyone else: they work and clean the house and cook dinner and kiss and watch television and go to bed. But at night when he's sleeping, she listens to his breathing--soft and easy and  _wrong_ ; and she runs her hand through soft sandy curls and wishes for the stiffness of gel and peroxide; and she whispers, "Spike," in his ear and pretends that when he murmurs something and reaches for her, it's because he recognizes the name.   
  
Once, she'd fallen in love with him. She keeps hoping it'll happen twice. 

**Author's Note:**

> [me on tumblr](https://mireille719.tumblr.com)


End file.
